Maryland pulled off their third road win in the Big Ten on Friday night after topping Nebraska 90-74 in convincing fashion.
Xavier Green made his second consecutive start on Friday night, but this time, the Terps had Eric Ayala available off the bench after a one-game absence due to his wrist injury. But the Terps’ offense struggled to find their rhythm early, shooting just 3-of-10 from the field to start as the Huskers capitalized on the home crowd momentum.
After the Huskers took a 19-14 lead nine minutes into the game, Maryland turned the tide with an 11-2 run spurred by seven points from Julian Reese to take their first lead on the night. Reese led the way with 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first half, but the Huskers bounced back as the two sides traded leads before the Terps took a 42-40 lead into the locker room.
That’d change over the next 20 minutes, though.
“We talked about the plane ride back and how we didn't want to have that plane ride with a loss,” guard Fatts Russell said postgame. “That's a long plane ride and we didn't want to have that feeling of defeat while we're on that plane. We came out and we told each other that we're going to play hard for these next 20 minutes and I feel like we did that in the second half."
Maryland opened the second half on a 12-3 run, highlighted by an and-one from Qudus Wahab followed by a thundering dunk from Donta Scott to give the Terps their first double-digit lead. The Terps wouldn’t relinquish control, stretching the lead to as many as 20 with a series of highlight-reel plays including a steal-into-windmill dunk for Ian Martinez.
In a game that featured 64 combined free-throws, the Terps finished 72.7% from the line but committed a season-low four turnovers in the win. “We know Nebraska leads the league in forced turnovers with how they press the basketball and the pace that they play at so for us to take care of the ball against that type of pressure was really good for us,” Maryland interim head coach Danny Manning said postgame.
Nebraska turned in a late 7-0 run to cut the lead to as little as ten with three minutes left, then foul trouble plagued the Terps after fans watched both Xavier Green then Julian Reese foul out. But even with Fatts Russell and Donta Scott with four fouls each in the final minutes, the Terps rode a double-digit lead to the finish line with a 90-74 win.
Russell led the way with 23 points, his third consecutive game with 20 or more points, while five different Terps finished in double-figures including a dunk in the final seconds from Ian Martinez to give him ten points.
“We had a lot of guys score the ball for us, which was always good, but I think our bigs set the tone early,” Manning added. “Not a lot of time to enjoy or celebrate the way because we got a quick turn around and we play again on Monday.”
Maryland will host Penn State on Monday, February 21 for a 7 PM tipoff.
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